As the art of navigation was not invented by the Greeks, it will be in this place unnecessary to inquire very minutely into its rude beginnings. Most maritime tribes doubtless discovered for themselves the means of traversing such rivers, and creeks, and bays, and arms of the sea, as lay in their immediate neighbourhood and impeded their communication, whether hostile or friendly, with the various tribes on their borders. Another motive, moreover, which probably tempted men to trust themselves very early upon the waters, was the desire to regale on those dainty fish which abound on nearly all shores, and constitute among the most savage nations an important article of food. It will readily be believed that history cannot pretend to name the individual who in any country first launched his raft or canoe upon the deep. Nevertheless, tradition among the Phœnicians, endeavoured to supply the defect of history. Ousoös, we are told,[1662] a primitive Arab hero, observing the trunk of a large tree overthrown, perhaps by a hurricane, near the shore, lopped off the branches, set it afloat, and committed himself along with it to the mercy of the waves. He had very soon an abundance of imitators. In every part of the Red Sea, on the Nile, the Indus, and the Persian Gulf, hardy navigators made their appearance, who undertook voyages more or less hazardous, in piraguas constructed of a single bamboo, or the shell of a vast tortoise, or of a wicker-work frame covered with leather[1663]—the coracles of our British ancestors still in common use on many streams in Wales. Occasionally, too, more especially on the rivers and shores of the Euxine, capacious, long, and sturdy barks[1664] were scooped out of the trunks of enormous trees, which were denominated Monoxyla, and seem to have been at one time or another in general use all over the world from the island of Australasia to the Arctic Circle. A specimen of those employed by our own forefathers may be seen in the colonnade of our national Museum. On the Nile were several kinds of barks peculiar to Egypt, such for example, as those which were plaited from the papyrus plant,[1665] or from rushes. Most extraordinary of all, however, were their boats of earthenware, in which, furnished both with sails and oars, they glided over the serene bosom of the river. ----- Footnote 1662: Sanchoniath. ap Euseb. Præp. Evang. i. p. 23, bis. Leroy, Marine des Anciens Peuples, p. 188. Footnote 1663: Herod. i. 194. Footnote 1664: In the sea of Marmora, a boat somewhat similar in form, though different in construction, is still used, and known under the name of piade. It is narrow, and “from twenty to forty feet in length, very sharp both in the prow and stern; it is built of willow, and often beautifully carved and ornamented.” Douglas, Essay, &c., p. 13. Footnote 1665: Herod. ii. 96. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iv. 8. 4. -----